Serbia secures US sanctions waiver for its NIS oil firm, energy minister says

BELGRADE, March 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has extended a sanctions waiver for Serbia's Russian-owned NIS NIIS.BEL until April 17, giving the Balkan country more time to import crude oil amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Serbia's energy minister said on Friday.

"The extension of the licence for almost a month is particularly important now when oil prices are jumping ... daily," Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said in a statement.

NIS operates Serbia's only oil refinery in the town of Pancevo, just outside Belgrade and is the biggest supplier and fuel retailer in the Balkan country.

Serbia on Thursday extended a ban on crude oil and fuel product exports until April 2 to safeguard its market from shortages and price spikes stemming ​from the war on Iran.

The suspension applies to the export of diesel, gasoline ​and crude oil by all modes of transport.

Kazakhstan was Serbia's largest crude supplier last year, accounting for nearly 60% of imports, followed by Nigeria and Guyana.

All imported crude arrives via tankers to the Croatian island of Krk and is then transported through the JANAF JANF.ZA oil pipeline operator.

JANAF said on Friday it will continue oil supplies to NIS after it secured another licence from the U.S. Treasury Department.

Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic said he would announce more fuel and energy savings measures after he meets the country's National Security Council later on Friday.

In December, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) gave NIS until March 24 to negotiate the divestment of the stakes held by Russian firms Gazprom GAZP.MM and Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM, at 44.9% and 11.3% respectively.

On January 19, Hungary's MOL MOLB.BU said it had signed a binding agreement with the Russian companies to buy their stakes in NIS and the United Arab Emirates' ADNOC would be a minority stakeholder.

The Serbian government has a 29.9% stake in NIS, while the remainder belongs to small shareholders and employees.